Archive for August, 2012

It doesn’t take much to knock some people off of their game. Obstacles, difficulties of just about any measure are enough. It’s the excuse peddler I want to address here–“It’s Labor Day,” “It’s back-to-school time.” They use these to explain why business (or anything in life) isn’t good . I do understand that ‘things’ happen to us and to the economy and to (fill in the blank). But we can find an excuse for every day of the year. What if we tried just as hard to persist through the slow economic time or work our way through a particularly tough personal period as we do to find an excuse for it. What if we could use the tough time as a learning opportunity. Could that actually help us grow? Would there be a chance of finding a nugget of help or optimism if we actually looked for it? Say “YES Coach!” Athletes are an easy example here. Especially the ones who come from behind to win, or the one team member who seems to ‘raise his/her game’ to propel the team to a win, or those who change their environment so they can succeed. We can sit still and get clobbered. Or we can move forward, even if we aren’t clear at that very moment of where we may be headed. We can make progress. Oh yeah, and as we move forward it’ll be ok to change the movement or direction in order to succeed. But we have to take Action.

There are a lot of definitions for Gratitude. Many ways to experience it. Some spiritual. Some ethereal. Some common. I just had an experience and I am not truly certain I know where it fits. So, I’ll just tell you about it. Maybe you can help me interpret it.

I just witnessed a 20 minute ballet of 3 hummingbirds. They flew, fought, played, danced, hovered…I’m not sure what their intent was. Fun, mating, fighting, territorial, exercise? Don’t know. One flew into another, they went to the ground(never witnessed that before) one came up, then the next one. They flew off. Fussing at each other. (I think that’s what the noise was) Only to return chasing each other. Oh, their focus was a red flower plant (?) in a hanging basket 8 feet from my front door. They ignored me! Flew by. Fussed. Flew back. Fussed. Went to the 2 feeders I had placed inside the plant. Tried to feed, only to have one of their buddies zoom in and chase them off. The dance continued!

They flew off. Landed in the trees 5 feet from me. Ignored me. I stood still, sipping my wine. Wondering what the heck I was witnessing. Then, I stopped wondering…and just enjoyed it. Twenty minutes of the most relaxing entertainment I’ve had in a while. I wasn’t even there as far as they were concerned. Their focus was on each other, the feeders, flowers, the chase…whatever. Gratitude? I am so grateful I was allowed to witness that. It was comfortable, so graceful the words aren’t there. and soothing. Thank you.

To paraphrase Joe Friday…you know, Dragnet(?), ok it’s a little old school, but to the point it underscores a conversation I had with a client. Without knowing they were emphasizing something I’ve been stressing to them for quite a while they said “we just need to do the basics and the rest will take care of itself.” BINGO!!! You’ve got it! You Win! Yep, that’s it.

Put some systems in place, use checklists, discipline yourself to make one more sales call, hold your employees accountable (feet to the fire). Get off the non-sense time you spend on your iPhone, internet, voicemail and buy yourself the Time you need and don’t currently seem to be Managing. Just the basics. With all due respect to the PhDers, MBAettes and others there are some truly simple, easy things we can all perform and we’ll have a good business. First, set your Goals. Second, work on them daily. Third, build your Plan to achieve your Goals (see how this is going…?) Fourth, keep Educating yourself. Fifth, work on them daily (yep, that’s a repeat so it must have been worth it.) Sixth, enjoy your Success.

Go get some more ideas about how this works from my book: Breakthroughs for Success. It’s on Amazon.com, website of the same name, Barnes and Noble.com, and 2 boxes in my trunk!

You may be hearing the same comments I do about “this generation”, “that generation” just want it given to them. And “I’m not going to work overtime.” Or, “he’s just lucky and he works too much. ” I truly don’t think any generation is looking for a pass, but I do see people complain about their lack of success. And their shared trait is the lack of extra effort. Tell you what, you may want to think about working an extra hour each day for a while, get up an hour earlier, eat lunch at your desk, until you reach the level of success you seek. The clients with whom I work are making the extra effort. They read, listen to CDs and educate themselves. They are achieving their monthly revenue goals…and those aren’t just lap dog goals.

Unlike some people, I believe the individual business person IS responsible for building their own business and having their own success. I don’t see it being delivered by some group in a governmental setting. But it isn’t coming in with a lottery ticket. Become more by giving the extra effort, doing a little more than the other guys, working harder on yourself. It’s not really that difficult.

Let’s do this, implement your plan now, take action on that project now, make those 15 extra sales calls Now. Waiting for the perfect time, for one more something-or-other to happen or whatever the excuse isn’t really getting it done…is it. An 85 % plan well executed is better than a 100% plan that is too late or never gets executed. Successful people don’t always make the right move. Don’t always make the right decision. But they are able to correct and adjust because they are moving and doing something. They move toward their goals, get new information, adjust, keep going, find success. So, get up. Take Action.

Let’s look at 3 levels of Goals and see if we need to re-set our own. Level One is where we remove negatives. Like “lose weight”, “get out of debt.” At Level Two we add positives. Put “I am” into your goals. Level Three includes other peole in our goals. This is where we create a legacy. It doesn’t have to be lofty, but it does contemplate doing something for or including others in our goal. Something like this could be a simple legacy goal: “I am building the best business in __(your state)__. ” It contemplates providing for others (employees) and being a quality provider of your product or service (customers). It obviously has results that benefit you. But you are not just providing for you. If we are doing something that is aimed at only ourselves, then we don’t need a very big business.

Build a Goal based on a legacy and use the Goal to filter all things that come your way. And ‘stuff’ will come your way!